Abstract
Eveningness has been associated with multiple health risks, including articular and spinal diseases. Here, we analyzed if higher risks for articular and spinal diseases among Evening-types are also seen as increased treatments severe enough to require hospitalization. Our sample consists of 5696 Finnish adults from the general population with information on treatments during 1987–2010 based on the national hospital discharge register (HILMO). Their chronotype was assessed as part of the national health examination study (FINRISK) in 2007. From 2007 to 2010, the risk for dorsopathies was significantly higher (OR = 1.8, p < 0.05) but that for arthropathies was significantly lower (OR = 0.5, p < 0.05) for Evening-types than for Morning-types, after controlling for a range of potential confounding factors. Based on the clinical diagnoses assessed during hospital treatment, our study demonstrates that the eveningness associates significantly with the increased odds for dorsopathies.